Better Value Legal Services

Getting the most from your legal spend

Managing law firms is about more than simply creating a panel. It’s about obtaining better value from external advisers – be they “traditional” law firms or new model providers - and adopting Legal Procurement Best Practices to:

better scope and instruct firms, focusing on improved specification of:
- the matter
- resources to be used (often leveraging a combination of internal and external resources)
- the work approach
- the expected deliverables and how fees will be paid (in many ways this is helping buyers of legal services buy better and reflects the change in dynamics in the sector)
improve matter management and better, and more meaningful, interim reporting
better manage cost risk by using more innovative pricing including “Menu Priced” Fixed Fees, all part of a concerted move away from the unhelpful and opaque hourly rate model
help capture volume discounts by providing market pricing intelligence - often negotiable, frequently significant
help secure value add “freebies” such as access to hotlines, shared resources, secondments etc which help GC demonstrate the wider value they bring to their organisations

How we can help you

OMC have deep experience in helping in house lawyers get “more for less” in terms of legal spend and this includes:

using our up-to-date market intelligence and databases of rates, prices, discounts being secured by GC (which span firm types, advisory areas and spend levels) in order to fix prices and/or negotiate better hourly rates. We have over 500 separate financial benchmarks in these categories
“unbundling” legal work types so that activities are performed by the most appropriate resource whether in-house or external
running formal and informal tender processes and working with in-house procurement teams to do much of the “heavy lifting” (so you don’t have to). This can range from a full panel exercise to single pieces of work

Typically, cost savings of 20-30% are common, more if clients favour the greater use of alternative new model suppliers. However, whilst the benefits are sizeable, Law Firm Management is only one part of the equation and GC are looking more widely at the benefits of optimising their end-to-end delivery model (from business client through in-house legal to external advisers) to drive further savings and improve efficiency

OMC Legal Pricing Reviewer

In light of our extensive legal procurement work OMC have developed Legal Pricing Reviewer, an online database which tracks thousands of prices for legal services across a wide variety of advisory areas. It provides procurement teams with a unique bench-marking tool to review and challenge any legal spend before instructing a supplier. It also gives in-depth, real time, market intelligence about the rates, fixed fees and volume discounts that you could be receiving.

Further details may be found here. For a no obligation demo please contact matt.peacock@omc-partners.com

Case Studies

(click on each for full details)

Menu Priced Fixed Fees for FTSE Telco

Creating a Panel in the Financial Services Sector

Major In-house Efficiency Review

Working with the NHS

Legal Process Outsourcing at FTSE 100